1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns novel methods and systems for sensitive antigen detection.
2. Background and Related Disclosures
Attempts have been made previously to develop sensitive methods for detection of antigenic, nucleic acid containing entities. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,192 relates to a method for the detection of low levels of medically important organisms such as bacteria, viruses, malignant cells and the like. The abstract of the Japanese application JP 3231151 describes detecting a modified nucleic acid recognized by an antibody added to 5'-terminal site of primer or to DNA amplified by primer. PCT 91/AU91/00131, filed on Apr. 5, 1991, describes a method for capturing target DNA from a sample, amplifying the DNA using a PCR and detecting the amplified DNA.
J. Clin. Microbiol., 28:1968 (1990) describes a system for detection of amplified Chlamydia trachomatis DNA from cervical specimens by fluorometric quantitation in an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) format, which includes a polymerase chain reaction.